Taking a Knee: The NFL & Racism

Description

In the week long unit, Taking a Knee: The NFL & Racism, from Re-Imagine Education (RiEd) students examine why Colin Kaepernick first began his Taking a Knee protest, the history his protest builds on, as well as the consequences and legacy of his protest.  This mini-unit is meant to contextualize the debate around kneeling during the national anthem. We hope that it stimulates and challenges students.

Authors Ryan Williams-Virden & Ian  McLaughlin

Reviews of  Taking a Knee: The NFL & Racism and  Re-Imagine Education (RiEd)

While there are countless “diversity curricula” out there, U.S. P-12 education is in desperate need for more social justice curricula. The work of Re-Imagine Education is a response to this need. The analysis is deeply in line with Hackman Consulting Group’s focus on social justice being about looking at systems and history as it pertains to both how targeted groups experience oppression and how dominant groups are benefited by them. Re-Imagine Education takes a deep and critical approach to social justice content while still being accessible and grade specific.

– Heather Hackman, Ph. D founder of Hackman Consulting Group

Re-Imagine Education (RiEd) recognizes all education as inherently political. As teachers with years of experience in teaching and activism, they are committed to helping students develop the competencies of self-knowledge, multicultural awareness, critical social analysis, and sociopolitical engagement. Their ultimate goal is to support all students and enable them to act against social injustice in their lives and future professions. This is a courageous and compassionate undertaking and I have the utmost confidence that RiEd is up to the task. If I had a school-aged child, I would settle for nothing less than the excellence RiEd brings to the leveraging of education as a tool of transformation.

– Robin DiAngelo, PhD educator and author of “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism.“

Finally! A relevant, rigorous and engaging social studies curriculum that examines the racial, socioeconomic, hetero-patriarchal, geopolitical landscape which calls students in and encourages them to become agents of change.

– Tiffany Williams, Director of Equity & Inclusion for Hiawatha Academies Charter School Network